CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It was 1867 when the first African American police officers were appointed to a police department in Selma, Alabama.
The U.S. has progressed with many more milestones since then, opening the door for opportunity and efforts to increase diversity in the police force.
Click here for more history of African Americans in law enforcement.
However, many recognize there is still work to do to make improvements within society.
"People need to treat each other, treat each other good, treat each other fair, treat each other right. And so, I think if you just practice doing that every single day at some point it won't matter what color, what creed, or what gender." said Anthony Sanders.
Sanders is currently the Deputy Chief of the Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD), overseeing the men and women in uniform. Before he started wearing a badge, Sander's Honor, Courage and Commitment brought him to the Coastal Bend. He served in the Navy for about nine years and was stationed in Ingleside.
"It just opened up so many different worlds for me because I met so many different people and went to different places and traveled the world." he said.
The Deputy Chief believes protecting and serving has been a value rooted in him from his upbringing. Sander's Grandmother raised him in North Carolina. When he was as young as 13-years-old, he developed an interest in law enforcement and joined the Police Explorers Program. Sanders already had the dreams and ambitions, but he said his family provided the much-needed support to pursue a career in the police force.
"I go back to some of the teachings of my grandmother. She said, you can either talk about it or you can go do it." he explained. "You gotta figure, this wasn't the most popular extra-curricular in my neighborhood. And you know how people say, you didn't have a lot and you were poor but didn't know it kind of thing. I guess that was it for me. But what we did have was clear direction, love and everything we needed to be successful. A lot of that helped me continue on with this career."
Sanders said it wasn't always easy, but determination helped him get to his current ranking.
"It's cliche but I like helping people." he added. "Internally as well. The officers here if they're happy and healthy and whole, they'll be providing a great service to the community. I focus on the procedural justice internally so treating everyone fair, treating everyone the same, not being better than anyone. To make it organic to where it's a good environment for them to make them want to come to work."
The Deputy Chief reflected upon February being Black History Month as well.
"It's huge for me, it provides the opportunity to look at the various contributions African Americans have made to this country, to this state, to this city and even to this police department." he said. "It would not be fair to say things are the same way as it was before. But I think a lot of the things that are happening in today's time, it's testing the profession. But I think ultimately what's happening is we're pivoting and we're making things better to move forward."
Sanders hopes to inspire people hoping to get into law enforcement. For information on careers with CCPD click here.
